Services inter-operate based on a formal definition (or contract) that is independent of the underlying platform and programming language.

The interface definition hides the implementation of the language-specific service so SOA-based systems can function independently of development technologies and platforms (such as Java, .NET etc).

Services written in C# running on .NET platforms and services written in Java running on Java EE platforms, for example, can both be consumed by a common composite application (or client).

Developers can also wrap COBOL legacy systems and present them as software services. This has extended the useful life of many core legacy systems indefinitely, no matter what language they originally used.

SOA has the goal of allowing users to string together fairly large chunks of functionality to form composite applications

The larger the chunks, the fewer the interface points required to implement any given set of functionality; however, very large chunks of functionality may not prove sufficiently granular for easy reuse.

Each interface brings with it some amount of processing overhead, so there is a performance consideration in choosing the granularity of services.

( UDDI ) is a platform-independent, Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based registry enabling businesses to publish service listings and discover each other and define how the services or software applications interact over the Internet.

Many UDDI registries are used internally and are not for public consumption

Increasing numbers of third-party software companies offer software services either for free or for a fee.

The travel industry has a well-defined and documented set of both services and data, sufficient to allow any reasonably competent software engineer to create travel-agency software using entirely off-the-shelf software services.

Other industries, such as the finance industry, have also started making significant progress in this direction.

Companies such as Amazon offer services that can be used to build applications that access Amazon data and services